GRGR(4)

[Alan Westrope]

On Fri, 8 Nov 1996, andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk (Andrew Dinn) wrote:

>Maybe I don't watch enough soap operas or something but this
>Roger-Jessica thing is really gripping, so real, so convincing. Does
>it really require a war for this sort of thing to happen. (I realise
>it helps but . . .) Seems more like a page straight out of TRP's home
>life (or lack thereof).

I think Andrew has supplied a partial answer to one of the questions
he posed at the beginning of our cruise:

* Other Pynchon - Is GR so different to TRP's other work? Compare it in
  all the above departments or along any other lines with `V', `The
  Crying of Lot 49', `Vineland' and `Slow Learner' (also, don't forget
  the first short story, `Mercy and Mortality in Vienna', those of you
  who have a copy of it).

I can't think of another Pynchonian relationship that approaches the
Roger-Jess thing when it comes to being gripping, real, and convincing.
All the others seem decidedly two-dimensional in comparison, and none
is depicted with this kind of lyricism and tenderness.  This is one
reason why I've always been mystified by critics like Barth who regard
the novel as an intellectual masterpiece, but one that's somehow too
academic, without real humanity or passion...<shrug>.

And I too harbor a suspicion that this subplot may have its roots in
TRP's personal life.  I never could shoehorn it into Swan Lake ballet
slippers, even with the help of the erudite foax here.  I suppose we'll
never know -- TRP may carry the answer "to whatever coded tenacity of
protein might have held on six feet below, still resisting decay..."


-- 
Alan Westrope     PGP public key:  http://www.crl.com/~awestrop
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